First thanks to the parents who came and help with our first game. I felt it was very successful and the parents that came just did their jobs and it made it easy for me to focus on the game. The girls had worked hard this past week in the heat and they looked good. It was a very good start to our season.
This being said I had once again, two parents go to the administration this past week to complain about how this cheer program. I felt like maybe others might not understand why we raise money and where the money goes. Because we are not an athletic team we do not get any money from the athletic fund. We are not an extra curricular club like drama that produces a production and then sells tickets to g raise money for their program. WE GET NO MONEY FOR ANYTHING FROM THE SCHOOL. In the past we have gone to business to sell ads space in our program to get the money we need to run our program. So many of you are probably thinking WOW $400.00 x 18 = $7200. This year we had 5 girls not sell their assignments amount so we were $1300 short. We pay a typesetter $400 to set the type and $1000.00 for the printing. Do the math $4500.00 I purchased a much need mat in June, a set of performance poms we keep to use in future years, two shirt and a tank to wear for class and the two pair of leggings the girls just got. which takes it down to $2800.00 Still alot of money huh. I BUY EVERYTHING FROM ELASTICS TO STAPPLES TO PAPER AND PAINT. Out of this money we usually do the alumni dinner, teacher appreciation lunch, senior night parents dinner, Homecoming, Christmas party, team treat for all our teams. Team treats for the cheer teams that come to our school. Just to let you know last year we spent $400.00 for homecoming. The district makes us buy a special paint so the paint alone to paint the stairs was over $120.00. We buy decorations, helium balloons and decorate the locker room with candy for football and basketball. We do all this and much more. We will barely get buy this year. At any time you are free to come in and see any of the receipts of the purchases I have made.
That brings me to the second complaint the money that we use to pay the coaches. We are very lucky to have two coaches that have cheered and coached on the collegiate level. Both of them have full time jobs and both are going to school this year. If you were at the game on Friday you would have seen that our girls would not have looked that good with out our coaches. They are way underpaid for what they do. One of the complaint was that the checks are made out to Ally and she never comes. Last year we had girls writing checks to Me, Ally, Stefi, and the school. This year we decided to have it go to one person who would then divide that money up between Ally and Stefi according to the hours they had for the month. I DO NOT RECEIVE ANY OF THAT MONEY. To make it worth the girls time we also offered a weekly tumbling class that was part of that money. So for your $25.00 you got tumbling, choreography,extra practices, summer practices and stunting. ALSO FOR YOUR INFORMATION. Only 10 girls have paid for June and 5 girls for August. Stefi had 30 hours for Jun. Ally Cashed what checks we had and gave them to Stefi which I didn't have enough money to pay her so I paid $50.00 out of my own pocket. Ally has not been paid at all. Stefi usually does June and Ally does August. I do not get paid for any of these extra practices. To this point we have learned 3 dances plus one we will do with the band at homecoming. Our plan was to learn 3 more routines for basketball. I do not do Choreography so if we don't have coaches we can not learn anything new for basketball. At this point I am looking at some options on how to pay our coaches. One more thing we must by the policy of the district have a certified coach at each event the girls cheer at. If we don't have a coach at the game the girls can not stunt, tumble or do jumps.A parent volunteer would have to go to the game and be responsible if a girl gets hurt. You might not realize but I also have a full time job teaching school and have obligations to my regular students. I am also taking a class this semester at Weber State. I fell like maybe you do not realized the extent of the extra things that are required to run this program. If you would like I will send you a list of everything I do for cheer. I am now keeping a total of hours I do cheer stuff. I ask myself all the time why do I do this? Just so people can complain I am not doing the right things. I do it for the love of the sport and for the girls who put in even more time than I do. They girls this year are very hard workers and seem to be kind to each other and the student body. I am very proud of them.
THESE ARE SOME OF THE OPTIONS I AM LOOKING AT
1-Please pay the $25.00 fee for June and August. I feel like we need to pay these coaches for what they have done. WE WILL HAVE NO MORE TUMBLING CLASS OR FEE.(Just to let you know next year is a competition year and you will need a standing tuck to make the squad)
2- We could charge a participation fee for basketball like all the clubs and sports teams charge. I think it is $65.00
3-We can pay our coaches and make everything, all the dinners and poster, paint etc by donation
4-We did sell Italian Ice at the game and we are planning on selling cotton candy and scones when it get colder. We do make some money from these but for example the Italian Ice we have to pay for the Ice, cups spoons and napkins so we don't make 100 percent of the profit.
I WELCOME YOUR IDEAS AS TO HOW TO RAISE THE FUNDS WE NEED TO RUN THIS PROGRAM.
With all that being said we have our biggest week of the year coming up in a couple week Homecoming. We are asking each girl to have at least one parent to participate in one of the activities.
I am thankful for all the help, donations, fundraisers ideas and time you have put into Bountiful Cheer.
BHS Cheer
(P.S. Please send all of your responces to kim! Do not just reply to this letter! thanks so much!)
